Description

The freeaddrinfo() function frees one or more addrinfo structures returned by getaddrinfo(),
along with any additional storage associated with those structures. If the ai_next
member of the structure is not null, the entire list of structures is
freed. The freeaddrinfo() function supports the freeing of arbitrary sublists of an
addrinfo list originally returned by getaddrinfo().

The getaddrinfo() function translates the name of a service location (for example,
a host name) and/or a service name and returns a set of
socket addresses and associated information to be used in creating a socket
with which to address the specified service.

The nodename and servname arguments are either null pointers or pointers to
null-terminated strings. One or both of these two arguments are supplied by
the application as a non-null pointer.

The format of a valid name depends on the address family or
families. If a specific family is not given and the name could
be interpreted as valid within multiple supported families, the implementation attempts to
resolve the name in all supported families and, in absence of errors,
one or more results are returned.

If the nodename argument is not null, it can be a descriptive
name or can be an address string. If the specified address family
is AF_INET, AF_INET6, or AF_UNSPEC, valid descriptive names include host names. If the
specified address family is AF_INET or AF_UNSPEC, address strings using Internet standard
dot notation as specified in inet_addr(3XNET) are valid.

If the specified address family is AF_INET6 or AF_UNSPEC, standard IPv6 text
forms described in inet_ntop(3XNET) are valid.

If nodename is not null, the requested service location is named by
nodename; otherwise, the requested service location is local to the caller.

If servname is null, the call returns network-level addresses for the specified
nodename. If servname is not null, it is a null-terminated character string
identifying the requested service. This string can be either a descriptive name or
a numeric representation suitable for use with the address family or families.
If the specified address family is AF_INET, AF_INET6, or AF_UNSPEC, the service
can be specified as a string specifying a decimal port number.

If the hints argument is not null, it refers to a structure
containing input values that can direct the operation by providing options and
by limiting the returned information to a specific socket type, address family
and/or protocol. In this hints structure every member other than ai_flags, ai_family ,
ai_socktype, and ai_protocol is set to 0 or a null pointer. A
value of AF_UNSPEC for ai_family means that the caller accepts any address family.
A value of 0 for ai_socktype means that the caller accepts any
socket type. A value of 0 for ai_protocol means that the caller
accepts any protocol. If hints is a null pointer, the behavior is
as if it referred to a structure containing the value 0 for the
ai_flags, ai_socktype, and ai_protocol members, and AF_UNSPEC for the ai_family member.

The ai_flags member to which the hints parameter points is set to
0 or be the bitwise-inclusive OR of one or more of the
values AI_PASSIVE, AI_CANONNAME, AI_NUMERICHOST, and AI_NUMERICSERV.

If the AI_PASSIVE flag is specified, the returned address information is suitable
for use in binding a socket for accepting incoming connections for the
specified service. In this case, if the nodename argument is null, then
the IP address portion of the socket address structure is set to INADDR_ANY
for an IPv4 address or IN6ADDR_ANY_INIT for an IPv6 address. If the
AI_PASSIVE flag is not specified, the returned address information is suitable for
a call to connect(3XNET) (for a connection-mode protocol) or for a call
to connect(), sendto(3XNET), or sendmsg(3XNET) (for a connectionless protocol). In this case,
if the nodename argument is null, then the IP address portion of the
socket address structure is set to the loopback address.

If the AI_CANONNAME flag is specified and the nodename argument is not
null, the function attempts to determine the canonical name corresponding to nodename
(for example, if nodename is an alias or shorthand notation for a complete
name).

If the AI_NUMERICHOST flag is specified, then a non-null nodename string supplied
is a numeric host address string. Otherwise, an EAI_NONAME error is returned.
This flag prevents any type of name resolution service (for example, the DNS)
from being invoked.

If the AI_NUMERICSERV flag is specified, then a non-null servname string supplied
is a numeric port string. Otherwise, an EAI_NONAME error is returned. This
flag prevents any type of name resolution service (for example, NIS) from being
invoked.

If the AI_V4MAPPED flag is specified along with an ai_family of AF_INET6,
then getaddrinfo() returns IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses on finding no matching IPv6 addresses
(ai_addrlen is 16). The AI_V4MAPPED flag is ignored unless ai_family equals AF_INET6.
If the AI_ALL flag is used with the AI_V4MAPPED flag, then getaddrinfo()
returns all matching IPv6 and IPv4 addresses. The AI_ALL flag without the AI_V4MAPPED
flag is ignored.

The ai_socktype member to which argument hints points specifies the socket type
for the service, as defined in socket(3XNET). If a specific socket type is
not given (for example, a value of 0) and the service name
could be interpreted as valid with multiple supported socket types, the implementation
attempts to resolve the service name for all supported socket types and,
in the absence of errors, all possible results are returned. A non-zero socket
type value limits the returned information to values with the specified socket
type.

If the ai_family member to which hints points has the value AF_UNSPEC,
addresses are returned for use with any address family that can be
used with the specified nodename and/or servname. Otherwise, addresses are returned for use
only with the specified address family. If ai_family is not AF_UNSPEC and
ai_protocol is not 0, then addresses are returned for use only with
the specified address family and protocol; the value of ai_protocol is interpreted as
in a call to the socket() function with the corresponding values of
ai_family and ai_protocol.

Return Values

A 0 return value for getaddrinfo() indicates successful completion; a non-zero return
value indicates failure. The possible values for the failures are listed in
the ERRORS section.

Upon successful return of getaddrinfo(), the location to which res points refers
to a linked list of addrinfo structures, each of which specifies a
socket address and information for use in creating a socket with which
to use that socket address. The list includes at least one addrinfo structure.
The ai_next member of each structure contains a pointer to the next
structure on the list, or a null pointer if it is the
last structure on the list. Each structure on the list includes values
for use with a call to the socket function, and a socket address
for use with the connect function or, if the AI_PASSIVE flag was
specified, for use with the bind(3XNET) function. The ai_family , ai_socktype, and
ai_protocol members are usable as the arguments to the socket() function to
create a socket suitable for use with the returned address. The ai_addr
and ai_addrlen members are usable as the arguments to the connect() or
bind() functions with such a socket, according to the AI_PASSIVE flag.

If nodename is not null, and if requested by the AI_CANONNAME flag,
the ai_canonname member of the first returned addrinfo structure points to a
null-terminated string containing the canonical name corresponding to the input nodename. If the
canonical name is not available, then ai_canonname refers to the nodename argument
or a string with the same contents. The contents of the ai_flags
member of the returned structures are undefined.

All members in socket address structures returned by getaddrinfo() that are not
filled in through an explicit argument (for example, sin6_flowinfo) are set to
0, making it easier to compare socket address structures.

Errors

The getaddrinfo() function will fail if:

EAI_AGAIN

The name could not be resolved at this time. Future attempts might succeed.

EAI_BADFLAGS

The ai_flags member of the addrinfo structure had an invalid value.

EAI_FAIL

A non-recoverable error occurred when attempting to resolve the name.

EAI_FAMILY

The address family was not recognized.

EAI_MEMORY

There was a memory allocation failure when trying to allocate storage for the return value.

EAI_NONAME

he name does not resolve for the supplied parameters. Neither nodename nor servname were supplied. At least one of these must be supplied.

EAI_SERVICE

The service passed was not recognized for the specified socket type.

EAI_SOCKTYPE

The intended socket type was not recognized.

EAI_SYSTEM

A system error occurred. The error code can be found in errno.

EAI_OVERFLOW

An argument buffer overflowed.

Usage

If the caller handles only TCP and not UDP, for example, then
the ai_protocol member of the hints structure should be set to IPPROTO_TCP
when getaddrinfo() is called.

If the caller handles only IPv4 and not IPv6, then the ai_family
member of the hints structure should be set to AF_INET when getaddrinfo()
is called.